The Hidden Room
by psycotroll
Summary: More Marvel mysteries are explained when an unsuspecting X-Man comes across a dark secret


Untitled 

It was a clear and sunny day outside of the Xavier Institute for the Gifted that found the X-Man known as Rogue strolling through one of the many corridors inside. It was while walking through one of the lower halls, deep below the mansion, that she spied something that looked slightly out of place. She studied the mural of pink ponies dancing on the heads of evil mutants carefully, not quite sure what it meant. Finally she went up and put her hands against it. It felt like a normal painting as far as she could tell, not that she could tell much through her rubbery kitchen gloves. She had completely destroyed her last pair of good gloves fighting Sentinels earlier. Being a super-hero was simply awful for your clothing. 

After hours of careful searching she finally came across something that looked promising. The giant red button with the `Push Me' sign was located squarely in the middle of the mural, most well hidden. Checking the hall for any sign of activity, Rogue quickly pressed the glaring switch, watching in pure awe as the portrait slid slowly away. Behind the space left was a vast room… oh, no, that was just the glass on the other side magnifying it. After much struggling, she managed to defeat the tricky obstacle and opened the glass door. Behind the picture's space she found a room roughly the size of a county prison jail cell, complete with scuttling roaches and slimy rats. 

Huddled in the corner were three filthy men, gaunt beyond belief and murmuring desperately amongst themselves. When they finally took notice of their guest, they scurried away like the rats that stared beadily from the shadows. In the middle of the floor sat a pile of discarded and molding plates with a few scraps of bone that looked as though they had been long d for any traces of flavor. A single dim light plate provided all the illumination present. 

"Who're ya'll?" Rogue asked haughtily, perfectly tossing her long hair over one shoulder and striking a heroic, yet sexy, pose. The three men exchanged a quick look before the tallest and apparently oldest, though on closer inspection they were all rather old, stepped - straggled - forward. 

"I'm Silicon. These other two fella's are Melanin and Lazarus. And just who mighten' you be? I can't quite make ye out from over here…" 

"Ah'm Rogue," she stated importantly. The man seemed to look down at her chest somewhat then sighed. 

"So ye'are. I was kinda hopin maybe we were gonna get outta here." He hobbled pitifully back to his bed and fell onto it resignedly. "At least I know my power's still working alright…" he seemed to be talking to himself now and Rogue chose to ignore him. 

"What're all of ya doin down heah?" she wondered, shifting without losing her heroic stance. 

"We're Xavier's slaves," another man sighed, Melanin if she remembered correctly. "We've been here longer than any of you brats. Way before the little preppy red-heads got here even. Of course nobody would know that…." Then he too proceeded to fall into muttering to himself. 

Finally Lazarus spoke up, his soft voice gravely and dry from under-use and dehydration. "Xavier keeps us down here to take care of little things he needs fixed. Haven' you ever wondered why your bras seemed to fit so well one day, then were too small the next? That's Silicon's doing. And those African-Americans and Asians got running all over the place? Ever wonder why they seemed to look like they fell asleep in the tanning bed one day, and hadn't seen the sun in weeks the next? Melanin took care of that. Then of course, every now and then one of you showy heroes would go and get yourself killed, so I'd have to bring you back and Xavier would alter all your memories with some nice cover story." 

Rogue looked aghast, "Why, that's awful!" she exclaimed. 

"No kidding," Lazarus muttered, though his thoughts lay on the hassle of bringing Jean Grey back, twice. All that energy, and Melanin and Silicon trying to fix her to fit Xavier's view, had been hell. He shuddered at the mere thought. 

"Wail, Ah would try an' save ya, but if Professah putt ya in heah hisself…." Rogue shrugged, smiled brightly and turned to leave. She was slightly hindered by the glass wall once more, but after several more minutes managed to make her getaway, closing the painting behind her. 

Lazarus sighed and shook his head, "Geeze Inflect, would you quit goofing off. It's hard enough to understand them anyway. Especially that `Cajun' one." A small man rolled over from his place on the bunk above Silicon. 

"Well at least I got to find out how much effect my power really has," he muttered. "Xavier never even lets us know how we're doing. `Sides, her accent's almost as much fun as that Kentucky girl…." At that moment the mural opened again and Professor Charles Xavier rolled into the room. Without saying a word, he took a small box of Popeye's chicken from under his blanket and put it on the floor. 

He smiled slowly and looked around at the four of them sinisterly. "I have another task for you," he announced menacingly, "It has just reached my attention that there is a woman, going about her life in the world with a size G chest. We cannot be outdone." 

Document created with wvWare/wvWare version 0.6.7 -->


End file.
